Since launching in 2021, The MLC has focused on empowering rightsholders with unprecedented transparency, powerful tools, education-focused outreach, and responsive service. As a result, we now have more than 100,000 Members and more than 60 million works in our publicly available database. In addition, more than 20,000 creators, representatives, and industry professionals have connected with us through the Songwriter Hub.
This focus, along with our Members playing their part, has delivered real results. The MLC has processed nearly $5 billion in royalties. Our current average match rate for the royalties we have processed to date is over 92 percent. Moreover, fewer than 5 percent of the remaining unmatched sound recording resources have accrued more than $1 in royalties across all periods, and of the over 95 percent that have accrued less than $1, their average cumulative value is only between 5 and 6 cents each.
The metrics for our 2021 usage are even more positive. Our current average match rate for all 2021 usage is now 94 percent. Moreover, only a small fraction of the sound recording resources reported in 2021 that remain unmatched — and a similarly small fraction of unclaimed shares of works — have accrued over $100 in cumulative royalties from 2021 usage.
As we continue our matching and outreach efforts, we expect these metrics will continue to improve. Still, with our metrics showing that the incremental improvements are diminishing over time, we are mindful that Congress did not intend for The MLC to hold onto remaining unmatched and unclaimed royalties indefinitely. The planned period for matching and distributing royalties from 2021 will span six years. This is twice as long as the three-year holding period the law mandates.
What About Historical Royalties?
Once the process for distributions of remaining blanket royalties has been successfully launched, we will look to begin processing the remaining historical royalties. As a reminder, in 2021, 21 DSPs transferred to The MLC all of the historical royalties (for periods from 2007 through 2020) they had been unable to match and distribute despite their best efforts. The total transferred was approximately $397 million (at the final rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board). We have made great progress here as well: We have matched over $317 million (nearly 80 percent) of the historical royalties originally transferred to us to registered works in our database, and we have distributed nearly $239 million (over 60 percent) of these royalties to the Members who have claimed their shares of those works.
We will share additional details regarding our anticipated timing for the start of our distributions of the remaining historical royalties well ahead of their eventual start date. In the meantime, we will also continue our ongoing efforts to match and distribute the remaining historical royalties.
